Over the past couple of months, this blog has explored a variety of issues relating to the perceptions of single people, the massive discrimination against singles in terms of financial breaks for married people, growing divorce rates as young adults charge head-first into committed relationships, and finally, the pressures to find committed romantic relationships throughout one’s college career. Throughout each of these blog posts, the emphasis has been placed on these issues as they pertain to the United States. However, the United States is certainly not the only nation to which these issues are relevant; many other nations around the globe face very similar issues, but interestingly have entirely different consequences.
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| Japanese Flag- Flickr |
Of particular interest are a couple of nations in Asia, specifically Japan. In many nations of Asia, marriage has been a long-withstanding tradition that is expected of almost all youth, to an extent much greater than the United States, or other countries around the world. The Huffington Post and The Global Times describe in detail some of the harsh standards young students of Asian parents face to get married and starting a family early in life. However, this trend is on the decline in Asia just as it is anywhere else on the map, and can be seen quite easily when analyzing marriage rates in each country. For instance, in Japan the proportion of women in the population who have never been married by the age of 34 has raised from 7.2% in 1970 to a staggering 34.5% in 2010. The difference for men is even more pronounced, from 11.7% in 1970 to 47.3% in 2010. Even for individuals above the age of 50, a relatively high proportion of individuals have never been married (10.6% of women and 20.1% of men).
One of the reasons for such high proportions of never-married individuals may be much higher standards for committing to marriages. While 53% of married couples of the United States file for divorce, in Japan only 20%-30% of married couples file for divorce, with similar statistics in other asian countries. The implications of these statistics are not necessarily that people are better at making commitments, but that even more people are not bothering to try.
The high proportions of never-married individuals may be attributed to changing attitudes regarding women in Asian societies. According to The Economist, more and more women are rejecting the social norms of marriage in favor of a single lifestyle to put forward alternative, more progressive priorities. As more women pursue careers, juggling a full-time job, as well as being expected to care for a family can be extremely demanding. The Economist article goes on to generalize that a Japanese women with a full-time job can spend an additional 30 hours a week dedicated to housework. These intense (and perhaps unfair) time commitments involved in marriage may significantly contribute to Japanese women having some of the most pessimistic attitudes regarding marriage in the world. Plus, now that more women are well-educated and financially independent, more are able to pursue an alternative lifestyle that does not involve a traditional marriage.
While the falls in marriage rates in Japan might be interpreted as a positive effect of increased freedom and liberties for women, it has negative consequences as well, contributing to a dramatic fall in birth-rates in Japan. According to The Washington Post, the rate of Japan’s population rate of increase has been decreasing since 1950, but just this year Japan’s actual population has declined. The population of Japan was 128 million in 2010, and is 127 million now. And this population is expected to continue to decline for time to come.
The proportions of single people have been on the rise not only in the United States, but nearly every nation on the globe. The falling marriage rates are the results of different factors in different countries, and have different effects as well. In the case of Japan, should the dramatically lowered marriage rates be celebrated for the independence of women compared to old traditions, or feared for not being able to sustain the Japanese population?
there's no doubt that Japan is becoming a country full of old people, because young people are afraid of getting married. It's a scary phenomenon to be honest.
ReplyDeletethere's no doubt that Japan is becoming a country full of old people, because young people are afraid of getting married. It's a scary phenomenon to be honest.
ReplyDeleteThe times have changed, and it's awesome that women can choose to lead single lives. But it's not like you can force women to get married and have children. It's definitely a tricky situation...but I'd be interested to know how young and old populations compare, as well as the effect that the population decline from 2010-now has had on the country.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that you compared different stats from a different country like Japan to underscore this issue because this definitely proves that this is not a nationwide issue at all,, it is a world issue. This is primarily due to our perception and it is hard to change it when literally everyone believes the same thing. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteAs Western ideals trickle into some Asian nations, it's interesting to see the changes in long-withstanding tradition in Japan. I've seen first hand how sunken in tradition the Japanese people are, and how tightly knit their families are. Cool topic and great post.
ReplyDeleteI think the decline in marriage rates represents a change in the general attitude toward marriage, which may be a good thing for those who really do not want to get married. However, this societal rejection of tradition may not be right for everyone, since many people still desire to get married and have a family.
ReplyDeleteI don't think increase in number of singles is something that is scary. People are not getting married because they think getting a marriage is limiting their personal freedom which is quite true. If you have children, you can't behave like singles. You may also take care of them. You have to be responsible about your children and etc. Whether the rates of being singles is increasing or not the most important thing is that we should decide whether we are going to be singles or couple. Sometimes there are people who love to raise kids but not get marriage. I respect that. We should respect no matter what people decide. Great post! I always enjoy reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post. I've really enjoyed this blog all semester it made me think about relationships in ways I never would have before. In the case of this post, I was wondering how the restricted ability to express affection has to do with not getting married. I don't know if you've ever heard of "love hotels" but they are very prominent in Japan and allow couples to spend a romantic weekend together in a society they normally wouldn't be able to. I wonder how this type of freedom plays into lower marriage rates.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is always so interesting Aidan! I think it is great to realize that everything that people do has an effect on something else. Just like you said in your post, although the falling marriage rate is showing that women are independent, the birth rate in Japan is declining. It is interesting that sometimes positive things have negative
ReplyDelete"side-effects." Very good last post!